"Au hasard de mes lectures" - found in a comment on an IMF report. The analysis is heavily lopsided - letting all these banks go bankrupt never was a real option - but there is more than a grain of truth in the comments.

"Executive Directors noted that the U.S. financial and economic crisis has had severe domestic as well as international repercussions on financial stability and growth. Directors commended the authorities’ forceful and internationally coordinated actions to stabilize and repair the financial sector, bolster domestic demand, and address international spillovers. As a result of their increasingly strong and comprehensive policy measures, the sharp fall in economic output seems to be ending, and confidence in financial stability has strengthened. Nevertheless, with financial strains still elevated, the recovery is likely to be gradual, and risks are tilted to the downside. In addition, potential growth could remain well below past trends for a considerable period. Nevertheless, the long-term growth effects expected from structural policies now being implemented were also noted, and a few Directors expected the crisis to have little lasting effect on potential growth, given the flexibility of the economy."

But don't cry hurrah yet :."Financial stability has returned to the Big 5 holders of the Derivative Beast. They are doing just fine, thank you. What is not doing just fine are all the nations that were raided so the Big 5 could be recapitalized and all the hazards and risks transfered to many millions of innocent humans who had absolutely nothing to do with the global banking bubble and collapse. Our reward for saving the Big 5?.We get YEARS of low growth. Years! Why is this? Well, to balance the budgets and pay for this mess, we will all be forced by the IMF to tighten our belts and live on less. Instead of eradicating Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, HSBC and Bank of America, we saved them and their beloved bonuses and are going to eradicate Social Security, healthcare and our jobs."

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Pablo Carpintero

your devoted servant, is a happily retired economist, and way too old to mend his ways. Pablo knows that many economists have the perfidious tendency to turn into professional idiots. That's why his rule of life is to be as contrarian as possible, and then some ...